Cedar Rapids man pleads to beating teen with extension cord, metal bat

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man pleaded this week before his trial started to torturing a 13-year-old by hitting, kicking and beating him with an extension cord and bat.

Byron Darnell Cox, 35, pleaded guilty to two charges of child endangerment, torture/cruelty, causing bodily injury. He beat the teen between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31, 2021, according to a criminal complaint.

He made an Alford plea to the charges, which is when a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but agrees the prosecution has enough evidence to prove the charges.

The teen was being “punished” by Cox following a fight at school, the complaint stated. The boy was pushed down in the garage, causing him to hit his face on the floor, knocking out a tooth. Cox then hit and kicked him and beat him with an extension cord until he was “covered in blood.”

Cox “cleaned him up” by forcing the teen to sit in a wooden chair behind the house where he sprayed him in the face with cold water from a hose, according to the complaint.

The teen was then struck with a metal bat on his arms, legs, hands and back. Cox didn’t provide medical treatment for the injuries until two days later.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier said the teen had multiple injuries to his mouth, head, neck, arms, legs, stomach and back. He also had cuts and wounds from the assaults and injuries to his kidney.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Mark Fisher immediately sentenced Cox to 10 years in prison, running the two five-year sentences consecutively, in accordance with the plea agreement.

Schier noted that 10 years is the same amount Cox faced even if a jury would have convicted him of the charges.

A jury convicted Cox on a lesser charge last year for assaulting a female teen, according to court documents. He was charged with willful injury causing bodily injury, a felony, but the jury convicted him of assault causing bodily injury, a serious misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

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